Quick Yoga Practice for Beginners
Yoga has a range of health benefits including stronger muscles and improved mental and emotional health. While practicing yoga can help to strengthen your body, it’s the added benefits outside the yoga studio that have made this practice so popular. Regularly practicing yoga can improve your ability to be disciplined, remain calm and understand what is happening in your body.
If you’ve never done yoga before, or you’ve fallen off the bandwagon lately, the good news is you don’t need to spend an hour in a studio to feel some of the benefits of yoga. Here’s a 5-minute yoga routine to help you feel grounded and in-tune with your body when time is limited. Each pose is designed to be held for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Quick Yoga Practice for Beginners
Start with Child’s Pose
Start with child’s pose by coming to all fours on your mat, moving your knees slightly wider towards the edges of your mat and lowering yourself back onto your heels. Keep your arms reached out in front and focus your breathing into your lower back and hips. Hold this pose for 30 seconds or around 10 slow rounds of breathing in and out.
Cat Cow Pose
After child’s pose, move into cat cow pose to loosen up your back. Come to your hands and knees and keep your spine in a neutral position. On an inhale, look up and arch your back so your stomach points down to the mat. On an exhale, curve your spine starting at the base and up to your chest so your spine curves up towards the ceiling. Make sure you connect your breath to each movement in this pose. Repeat this movement for 10 breaths.
See an example: https://gfycat.com/ifr/SnivelingVerifiableGharial
Downward-Facing Dog
Come back to your hands and knees and make sure your spine is in a neutral position. Next, start to move your chest back towards your thighs as your knees and hips lift. The aim with downward-facing dog is to create an upside-down “V”. Remember to keep your lower back straight. If you can feel your lower spine beginning to curve, bend your knees slightly to keep your spine long and straight. Hold this post for 10 long breaths.
Cobra
Once you’ve held downward-facing dog for 10 long breaths, move through a plank position to lie on your stomach with your legs straight and hands either side of your chest. Make sure your legs are hip width apart as you lay on your stomach. Next, gently push up on your hands, moving your chest off the floor. Keep your neck long and look straight ahead. Hold this pose for 5 breaths before lowering your chest back to your mat. Repeat for three rounds of breathing.
Warrior 1
Stand up straight on your mat. Gently step your right foot back and position it at a 45-degree angle while keeping your front foot straight forward. Slowly bend into your front knee as you raise your arms above your head. Make sure you keep your shoulders relaxed and your front knee above your ankle. Hold this pose for 5 breaths before changing to your other leg.
If you have time at the end of this short sequence, come back into child’s pose for 10 deep breaths to finish your practice. The best part about this short yoga sequence is that it’s great for when you’re short on time and helps different parts of your body to strengthen and relax.
Helpful resources:
2016 Yoga in America study conducted by yoga journal and yoga alliance. (2016).
yogajournal.com/page/yogainamericastudy
Crandell J. (2013). How to build a home practice.
yogajournal.com/practice/if-you-build-it
Ipsos Public Affairs. (2016). 2016 Yoga in America study.
yogaalliance.org/Portals/0/2016%20Yoga%20in%20America%20Study%20RESULTS.pdf
The benefits of yoga. (n.d.).
osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/about-your-health/health-conditions-library/general-health/Pages/yoga.aspx
Yoga: In depth. (2017).
nccih.nih.gov/health/yoga/introduction.htm
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